Builders Of The Future
Powerman 5000
•
June 3, 2014
Electro metal group POWERMAN 5000 release their 10th album of their impressive career, ''Builders Of The Future'', which only proves they get heavier and better with age, for fans old and new POWERMAN 5000 are a band to get you excited for whatever comes your way with their electro metal cross over.
Vocalist Spider and co are a classic band that doubtlessly you'd love. If you've never listened to them before then now is your time.
''Builders Of The Future'' kicks off with a bang with opening track ''Invade Destroy Repeat'' which is adrenaline fuelled aggression with an electronic edge, you can tell that the vocalist Spider is the brother of the legendary Rob Zombie.
The track will get you so excited for the rest of ''Builders Of The Future'' that you can't help but get out of your seat and mosh, the electronic metal is super catchy but equally as heavy making it loveable for metal heads on either side of the metal spectrum, POWERMAN 5000 is a band which know no limits.
''We Want It All'' has more of a hard rock element but vocally it's a lot weaker than the previous, whilst his vocals on ''Invade Destroy Repeat'' were more aggressive this feels unoriginal though he does sound okay when he uses the softer tone on his vocals.
Combine bands such as THREE DAYS GRACE, MY DARKEST DAYS and DOPE and you have POWERMAN 5000's super refreshed sound which is great but takes quiet a while to get used too though guitarists Richard Jazmin and Nick Quijano take this opportunity of a genre change to show how impressive they are with their guitars, the shortest song of the album at 2.40 quickly moves onto ''How To Be Human''.
POWERMAN 5000 mix up two things they love most with ''How To Be Human'' with a heavy duo of industrial metal and heavy rock.
The track is super catchy, possibly one of the best from the new album. The guitars are on top form with solo's which would make Slash envious of Richard Jazmin and Nick Quijano's super collaboration, though the lyrics are pretty weird with lines such as speaking about monkeys in a tree. Overall not much can be said about the 3rd track except that it's super catchy, and gets you super pumped up for what POWERMAN 5000 can create.
The introduction of ''You're Gonna Love It If You Like It Or Not'' seems mediocre and it stays that way throughout the song, a huge disappointment to the party hit of ''How To Be Human'', POWERMAN 5000 could have picked a much better song to be featured in place of this.
The only positive of the track is the improvement of the lyrics due to the removal of super trashy lyrics, Spider sounds much better vocally but not at his best.
Title track ''Builders Of The Future'' is a in your face industrial track which you either love or hate.
Spider combines his aggressive clean vocals with based up techno which takes over the track completely, expect to hear this track in a club full of cyber goths as it's the only place it would be appreciated.
''Builders Of The Future'' feels as if it should have been put onto an E.P or just removed from the rest of the album, it really stands out due to the previous tracks having a heavy classic rock influence then your hit with a track which feels like it is meant to be enjoyed with glow sticks.
It seems with POWERMAN 5000's new album they keep bringing new surprises to their sound, ''I Want To Kill You'' is a slow and sweet acoustic track which feels like it should be a lot heavier due to the name, Spider's voice displays vulnerability whilst the guitar strums with it, some sound effects are added to give it an eerie vibe.
''I Want To Kill You'' is a huge improvement to the last two songs from the album, POWERMAN 5000 have finally found a style of rock that suits them so will, proving a simple guitar and drumming can work as well as complex solo's and roaring vocals.
''Modern World'' has a 90's rock vibe to it with extra electronics added, it's hard to tell if the song is actually any good due to it being super repetitive lyrically and flat with it's boring guitars and bass.
The song is only 2.53 and quickly blends into the next track with much ease.
The album goes from strength to weakness quite quickly which is annoying when ''Builders Of The Future'' has so much potential within it, '' Live It Up Before You're Dead'' is a techno rock track which could be a lot better than it is. Spider's vocals feel exhausted and DJ Rattan doesn't make as much effort on drums as he has done with other tracks, it feels like a song to make the album longer.
''Live It Up Before You're Dead'' is a track you'd expect from a band just making its roots in the genre, not such an established band like POWERMAN 5000, it's a good thing that the song is so short.
The band takes it up a notch with penultimate song ''I Can't Fucking Hear You'' which is as angst ridden as the band gets when accompanied by whirring guitar tones, it's good to hear that the band can re-create what they made at the start of the album which was great and put it at the end of ''Builders Of The Future'' when you nearly lose all hope for the band creating good material.
Every member of the group uses their own personal tastes to make the song what it is: using strong yet rough vocals, simplistic drumming but complex guitar and bass tones, this could be POWERMAN 5000's best track.
''Builders Of The Future'' ends with ''Evil Worlds'' which is a rock infused industrial metal track but for a final song it's heavy disappointment when compared to what could have been.
The song is made up of 90% electronics and 10% soft rock which really doesn't work well as it just sounds like a mess, if they made this solely electronic it would have been a great track.
''Builders Of The Future'' had lots of potential but not enough to really be a great album, the songs which were amazing are something special but the bad completely weighs out the good.
POWERMAN 5000 still have the talent which got them so far but they really need to boost their material with new releases.
4 / 10
Nothing special
"Builders Of The Future" Track-listing:
1. Invade Destroy Repeat
2. We Want It All
3. How To Be Human
4. You're Gonna Love It If You
5. Builders Of The Future
6. I Want To Kill You
7. Modern World
8. Live It Up Before You're Dead
9. I Can't Fucking Hear You
10. Evil World
Powerman 5000 Lineup:
Spider One - Vocals
Richard Jazmin - Guitar
Nick Quijano - Guitar
Gustavo Aued - Bass
DJ Rattan - Drums
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